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Sunday, March 26, 2017

For us, springtime in the desert means three things: spring flowers, spring training (baseball), and Quilt Arizona! This is our 8th year blogging about this fun show, which draws visitors from many parts of North America. Here are some of our favorites from this year's show.

Ann L. Petersen has won awards at every Quilt Arizona! show in recent memory. The fabulous Whimsey in Bloom won 1st place - Mixed Technique and a special award for Excellent Use of Color. Ann says, "I've been laying with adding applique to paper pieced designs for curves. The top reminded me of Art Deco so I quilted it to reflect that."

close up, Whimsey in Bloom

Six original black and white Dresden plate blooms are arrayed over a background of squares that move from green, at the bottom of the quilt, to sunny skies at the top. In the photo below you can see the Art Deco style quilting designs created by Ann Petersen.

Unfortunately this quilt was hung right under a canister light in an otherwise dark hallway, which created the uneven lighting you see in our photo. For a better photo of this quilt and other beautiful creations, please visit Ann Petersen's gallery at Obsessive Quilter.

Southwest Spirits, made and quiltedby Linda Hopkins

We loved this southwest-style crazy quilt. Done in copper and turquoise, with beautiful stitching and embellishments, there was something to see in every corner.. Linda Hopkins says, "Southwest Spirits embraces the diversity of cultures and colors of this region's past. Mythical figures, rock etchings, and vivid colors are incorporated in this quilt."

detail, Southwest Spirits by Linda Hopkins

The closeup photos show some of the amazing beadwork and stitchery in Southwest Spirits.

The Harbor at Portofino by Linda Schoenfeld

This was a small quilt, maybe 15" across,with details that lend a photo-realistic quality. Linda Schoenfeld explains that her photo of Portofino Harbor invokes fond memories of many trips to Italy. The boats set against a backdrop of colorful buildings create the quintessential picturesque scene. In the closeup photo below you can see the window shutters with painted details.

Bursting with spring flowers, this is such a pretty quilt! Cheryl A. Giovenco started Fantasy Flowers in 2012 and finished in June 2015. It is based on the Fantasy Flowers pattern by Pearl Pereira at P3 Designs. Cheryl says, "I just love P3 Designs patterns! I enjoyed collecting the fabrics, then hand appliqueing each block."

The Delft blue prints were a perfect choice for this flower pot. See if you can spot the bumblebee enjoying the flowers!

We are fans of Monika Hancock's work, and the larger-than-life face on this quilt really drew us in. It received First Place - Pictorial (Non Original Design), Monika Hancock says, "I'm a big fan of Toni Whitney's paintings. I couldn't resist the Red Fox. I increased her pattern 150%. Debbie Stanton always brings them to life."

The eyes, whiskers, and fur are so lifelike! Monika's fabric selections and applique work were perfect in every way. Check out her award-winning Mama Loves You, Baby in our 2016 post.

Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration. We have made efforts to identify the websites for the makers, quilters and designers; please leave a comment if you have additional information.

Monday, March 20, 2017

Let's begin the week on a small scale! In a true miniature quilt, the blocks are often scaled down from 12" to only 1". Some of the pieced quilts have over 1,000 pieces of fabric, and many pieces are smaller than a centimeter! To create your own miniature work of art, scroll down for a FREE miniature quilt pattern from AQS!

Winner of Best Miniature Quilt at AQS - Paducah in 2014 and other awards, Robin explains, "Honoring veterans of all wars - the survivors and
the dead in Flanders fields and elsewhere - this miniature quilt
celebrates the poppies of remembrance. The title pays homage to the
extraordinarily moving poem by John McCrae which was written in 1915." These pale blues, greens, oranges, and light reds look beautiful against the dark background. Closeup, In Flanders Fields

Robin's quilt is machine-stitched and fused with raw-edge applique. It is also hand embroidered, hand couched, and machine quilted on a domestic machine. For this lovely original design, Robin used commercial and hand-dyed cotton, silk thread, and perle cotton embroidery thread. Blocks and Blooms by Marjorie Imperatrice

We photographed Blocks and Blooms with a hand in front (not touching) to show the small scale of the blocks. Winner of an Honorable Mention Award at the Arizona Quilter's Guild 2015 show in Mesa, Arizona, Marjorie writes, "I hand-pieced the mini Tumbling Blocks with traditional piecing. I used pictures from a Helen Stevens book to build the [hand-embroidered] border."

Closeup, Blocks and Blooms

We marveled at how these tiny little pieces were so accurately placed together. Marjorie did an outstanding job with her hand quilting and embroidery.

Here is Marjorie's mini-quilt shown with the award ribbon, so you can get additional perspective of the size of her quilt.

Forest Aglow by Julie Mossier

Another Honorable Mention Award winner at the Arizona Quilters' Guild show (in 2014), Julie notes, "I enjoy the challenge of working small. This little quilt is paper pieced and has over 1200 pieces." The inspiration for this quilt came from George Siciliano's Tree Dimensional pattern.

Closeup, Forest Aglow by Julie Mossier

Julie's elegant, precise motif reminds us of tiny pine needles reflecting the light of the morning sun. We can only imagine the patience that went into piecing this fabulous creation.

La Petite Chef D'Oeuvre by Helen Williams Butler

Winner of Award of Excellence at the 2016 Springville (Utah) quilt show, Helen Butler says: “La petite chef d óeuvre means “my little masterpiece.” I have always wanted to make a true miniature and I have been amazed at
the seemingly endless number of decisions necessary... just to
complete the quilt." The tiny flowers are invisibly hand appliqued with a trapunto
effect.

closeup, La Petite Chef D'Oeuvre

La Petite Chef D'Oeuvre is machine quilted. Helen says, "After completing this little challenge I now know there will never be
another one."

Dutch Flower Pots by Lahala Phelps

Dutch Flower Pots won a Judge's Recognition Award at the 2014 AQS QuiltWeek in Paducah. It was inspired by the full-sized Pots of Flowers from the book A Flowering of Quilts by Patricia Cox Crews. Lahala decided to make this miniature version using a cheddar-colored background seen in many Pennsylvania Dutch quilts. It is hand appliqued and hand quilted with stitches so tiny they appear to be pin pricks.

George Siciliano is famous for his intricately-pieced miniature quilts. This masterpiece is foundation pieced with 4,860 pieces of jewel tone Dupioni silk. George explains that the name of the quilt came to him when all the silk pieces were laid out in order. His family had once passed a flatbed tractor-trailer loaded with all the materials needed to build a house, and his then-young son whispered, “some assembly required.”

closeup, Some Assembly Required

We'd say that some precision is needed to piece these tiny bits of silk. Here is another photo of Some Assembly Required (with a hand in front, not touching, to show the scale):

Here is a classic that has inspired many quilters! Random colored swirls of hand-pieced shot silk from Thailand give the appearance of ribbons dancing across the surface. Dancing Ribbons was the winner of the First Place prize, ART-MINIATURE from “Quilts: A World of Beauty” at the 2008 fall show of the International Quilt Association.The process of creating this quilt started with Richards drawing the pattern onto woven fusible interfacing, then numbering and lettering each patch according to her diagram. You can download this *free* PDF quilt pattern at the American Quilters' Society website.

Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration. Dutch Flower Pots was photographed at the 2016 Brigham City Art Quilt Invitational exhibit. In Flanders Fields and Some Assembly Required were photographed at the 2013 Houston International Quilt Show.

Friday, March 17, 2017

Our featured quilt this week celebrates all things GREEN. Enchanted Garden is an original design by Cathleen Miller, who is renowned for her hand quilting. Cathleen moved from Wisconsin to New Mexico in 2004. She explains that she moved from an area of rich black soil, where gardening was her passion, to a land of sand; she turned her passion into designing a garden with fabric.

Enchanted Garden took Best of Show at the 2013 Denver National Quilt Festival and Second place, Bed Quilts - Hand Quilted at 2013 AQS QuiltWeek in Lancaster, among other awards. We photographed it at the 2016 International Quilt Invitation Exhibition in Brigham City, Utah.

Cathleen Miller chose beautiful, bold colors for her applique. The close-up shows Cathleen's award-winning hand quilting. The applique is many-layered, as vines twine around, under and over the layers of flowers and leaves. The flower petals are outlined with hand quilting and embellished with beads.

The leaves are hand embroidered to suggest veins. Leaves and flowers were also created with trapunto, adding even more depth to the quilt.

Saturday, March 11, 2017

Here are free patterns for shamrocks, Irish chain and Celtic quilts, table runners and pillows! St. Patrick's Day is often celebrated with parades, green attire, and green beer. How about a quilt? Note: This post was updated on August 21, 2017. Scroll down the page until you see the quilt you like, then click on the colored letters of the link to the pattern.

Four Leaf Clover table topper, free pattern and tutorial at We All Sew

Image credits: Individual images are copyrighted by their owners. Please respect their generosity in sharing their free patterns, and the restrictions they have placed on the use of these designs. Complete information can be found at the designers' websites provided in the links. The montages shown on this page are derivative works that are copyrighted by Quilt Inspiration; please do not copy images without permission. If any links are broken, we'd love to know; email us at quiltinspiration {at} gmail {dot} com.